CODEWITHSUNDEEP
chartsdata-visualizationpie-charttableau-api
user2569524
user2569524

Reputation: 1751

Table Structure for Tableau

I have a query regarding the table structure for the pie chart on Tableau.

I have below 2 table structures and am not sure which one is more apt for tableau to arrive at a pie chart .

For example I wish to see the percentage of each metric over a particular date contributing towards the total. May be the representation is a pie chart or some other chart. Please suggest me which table lay out works out well for my requirement.

Note : I have done all my calculations to arrive at the total in my database table itself.

Could some one please help me out.Thanks!

Table 1 : enter image description here

Table2 : enter image description here

Upvotes: 0

Views: 1396

Answers (2)

mcnalljj
mcnalljj

Reputation: 41

Relating to the topic of pie charts, and how to best represent data where contributions to a whole are of interest, I would recommend bullet graphs as well. Here are two papers by Stephen Few that could be of interest:

Save the Pies for Dessert http://www.perceptualedge.com/articles/08-21-07.pdf

Bullet Graph Design Specification http://www.perceptualedge.com/articles/misc/Bullet_Graph_Design_Spec.pdf

And, to answer your question on data preparation for Tableau, it looks like the second table would be more appropriate. Here's a good KB for preparing data for analysis, note the last section on the Tableau Reshaper tool for Excel...can save a ton of time.

Preparing Excel Files for Analysis http://kb.tableausoftware.com/articles/knowledgebase/preparing-excel-files-analysis

Upvotes: 0

philshem
philshem

Reputation: 25371

Pie charts first take a series of data and sum the total. Then they calculate the percent of each element of the series and create a pie slice with a unique color. To make a pie chart, you need one measure (the category or label) and one dimension (the amount of that category).

If you need to see how one is made, I would suggest downloading an example workbook and then going to the pie chart sheet. One example is here.

Here is how it looks when set up in Tableau.

enter image description here

Personal note: Despite the name, pie charts are not that delicious. Here is advice from Tableau themselves. And here is something I made up to express my feelings.

Upvotes: 0

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